1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clarifying or clearing vat for the production of worts during the manufacture of beer, including a chopping or breaking open arrangement incorporating a carrying arm which is raisably and lowerably drivable about a central shaft in the clarifying vat, knives being mounted on the arm for the breaking open or chopping of the brewer's grain, and including a grain sweeping beam which is articulated to the carrying arm and which is swingable from a lowered operative position into an elevated or raised inoperative position, whereby the grain sweeping beam is retained in the inoperative position thereof by a latching element which engages into a bolt provided on the carrying arm.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Clarification vats of this type are known in this technology and are utilized for the production of worts during the manufacture of beer. Hereby, they serve the purpose of separating solids from the mash which is filled into the clarifying vat. The solids (brewer's grains, deposit themselves on the bottom of the clarifying vat. In the clarifying vat there is arranged a chopping or breaking open device for the grain, possessing a carrying arm which extends horizontally from a central shaft up to approximately the circumferential sidewalls of the clarifying vat. Knives are fastened to this carrying arm, which knives serve loosen the deposited grain cakes, so that as many regions as possible of the brewer's grain can be extracted for the recovery of wort.
After the completion of the clarification, the brewer's worts are mechanically discharged. It is known to employ grain sweeping beams for this purpose. The grain sweeping beams are upwardly and downwardly swivable relative to the carrying arm which carries the knives, such that in a lowered operative position thereof they can reach down to the bottom of the clarifying vat. Through rotation of the central shaft, these grain sweeping beams sweep across the bottom, and slide the brewer's grains in front thereof towards discharge openings which are provided in the bottom, through which the grains will then drop out of the clarifying vat.
The openings are hereby arranged in the outer region of the bottom, whereby the inwardly located brewer's grain must be moved outwardly during the rotational movement of the grain sweeping beams. In order to achieve the foregoing, pursuant to the present state-of-the-technology there are employed through-extending or continuous (from the central shaft up to the circumferential region of the clarifying vat) grain sweepers, which extend in a generally S-shape between the central shaft and the sidewall of the clarifying vat. Grain sweepers of this type are known under the tradename "Meyer-Ulm".
However, these known chopping devices with grain sweepers of the above-described type are disadvantageous in that, frequently, it is not possible to achieve a complete discharge or expulsion of the grains and, moreover, the production becomes quite complex due to the particular path of flow.